Author Archives: Bradley Crain

#SundayShorts presents ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR (1987) – Rutger Hauer helps lead another great escape during World War II!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Since Sunday is a day of rest for a lot of people, I present #SundayShorts, a mini review of a movie I’ve recently watched.

The 1987 movie ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR is the historical re-creation of the escape from the Nazi Death Camp Sobibor, where approximately two hundred fifty thousand Jews were executed. Of the approximately six hundred prisoners who attempted to escape, around three hundred succeeded with somewhere between 50 and 60 surviving to see the end of the war.

The plot of ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR revolves around Leon Feldhendler (Alan Arkin), the leader of the Jewish prisoners at Sobibor, who eventually comes to realize that they are being held in nothing more than a death camp. He figures out that the only people being allowed to live are the goldsmiths, seamstresses, shoemakers, and tailors; these are the people who are able to repair the shoes, recycle the clothing, and melt down any silver or gold for the Nazis. He also knows that once the trains stop coming in, all the remaining Jews will be murdered. As such, he and a group of men devise a plan for every prisoner to escape by luring the Nazi officers into the prisoners’ barracks and killing them as quietly as possible. With the help of a group of highly skilled Jewish, Russian soldiers, led by Sacha Pechersky (Rutger Hauer), their plan was put into action on October 14th, 1943, leading to the largest escape from a prison camp of any kind in Europe during World War II. 

ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR is an excellent film, and it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime and TUBI as I type this. If you enjoy THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), I promise you will enjoy this film. It’s very hard to watch at times, as most Nazi concentration camp movies are, but you can’t help but be completely invested when the prisoners attempt their escape at the end. It’s always important to remind ourselves of the levels of evil and heroism that our fellow humans are capable of. ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR does an excellent job of that. 

Here are five interesting facts about the film:

  1. Y’all know how much I love Rutger Hauer. He won a 1988 Golden Globe for his performance as Sasha Pechersky.
  2. Not only did Hauer win a Golden Globe for his performance, the movie itself won as the “Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.”
  3. Over 30 million Americans saw this movie when it premiered on CBS on April 12th, 1987.
  4. Shortly after the revolt depicted in the film, Camp Sobibor was closed down and any trace of its existence was removed. Pine trees were later planted on the site.
  5. The movie ends with famed newscaster Howard K. Smith narrating the fates of the survivors on whose accounts the film was based. It’s an amazing, uplifting, and sometimes heartbreaking way for the outstanding movie to end. 

I highly recommend ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR. It’s an important film and one of the greatest films that Rutger Hauer ever worked on. Enjoy the trailer below!

Happy 78th Birthday, John Kreese (Martin Kove)! In honor of you, I celebrate one of my favorite scenes!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

It would be hard to overstate how much I loved THE KARATE KID (1984) when I was growing up. The movie came out when I was 10 years old, and I think it would be fair to say that I wanted to be the karate kid. I was a scrawny little runt, and the whole storyline about getting the better of the big bullies appealed to me. Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita will always be special to me because of their roles as Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi. It’s also fair to say that my very first movie crush was Elizabeth Shue. I thought she was so beautiful as “Ali with an I,” and I still do!

It was so easy to hate Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his band of bullies. The show, COBRA KAI, has finally helped me get over my anger at them. And then there’s Martin Kove as John Kreese, the head of that snake that was cobra kai. He is such an asshole in the movie! When I saw it was his birthday, I had an excuse to share one of my favorite scenes in cinema!

Happy Birthday, Martin Kove! Enjoy, my friends!

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 10: High Road to Viator (originally aired November 12th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 10 begins with Marian Starett (Jill Ireland) and her son Joey (Christopher Shea) shopping for fabric in Grafton’s Store. Joey’s not that excited about the shopping experience so he’s just goofing around when he comes across a flyer for a dance in the town of Viator, WY. He shows the flyer to his mom, and you can immediately tell that she would love to go to a dance, even if she won’t say it out loud. Shane (David Carradine) notices how Marian’s face brightens up when the dance is brought up again later that night back at the ranch. He decides right then and there that the family is going to that dance, even though it’s a three-day ride by carriage. Tom Starett (Tom Tully) doesn’t see how they can abandon the work that needs to be done at the ranch, but he relents to Shane when he sees how important the dance is to Marian. 

So, the family heads out on the three-day trip to Viator. They sing and laugh and are having the best time as they make camp on the first night. Unfortunately, a group of thieves attack them and steal their food and many of their other belongings. Not to be deterred, Shane convinces the family to keep moving forward to Viator. Thanks to some brave work from Joey and Shane, Marian still has the special dress that she plans to wear to the dance. As they close in on their destination, Shane goes ahead to make arrangements for the family. When he arrives, he finds that Viator is now a ghost town and that the flyer was actually from the year before. The community’s mine flooded about six months earlier and just about everyone left to restart their lives elsewhere. Will Marian still get to dance? Will Joey get to see his mom happy? Will Tom stop thinking about chores? The answers are all here for those who are truly interested! 

Episode 10 is the most romantic episode of the SHANE TV series that I’ve encountered so far. The needs and desires of Marian Starett take center stage and Jill Ireland is quite wonderful in the episode. Every action Shane takes is to make Marian happy. When Marian won’t admit that she even wants to go to the dance, Shane knows her true feelings and he’s going to take her no matter who objects. When the thieves steal Marian’s dress and conk her on the head, Shane risks his life to get it back because he knows it carries a special meaning in her life. When they make it to Viator, even though they got the date wrong and the dance hall is now a dusty, cobweb filled mess, Shane wants Marian to wear her dress. He asks her if he can remove the wrap that she is wearing, revealing her in her dress, and for the first time in the series, we see Jill Ireland at her most beautiful. She’s stunning. Shane sweetly begins pretending that there are people and music in the dance hall just so Marian can enjoy herself. She happily plays along and Shane and Marian dance together to the music in their minds and stare happily into each other’s eyes. Tom and Joey walk in and watch them dance. Joey asks his grandpa, “How can they dance? There isn’t any music.” Tom replies “Don’t be too sure of that boy.” It’s an endearing exchange and a testament to just how happy Shane and Marian are in that moment. Next week Shane can get back to being a badass. In Episode 10, he just wanted to make Marian happy, and he did. 

#MondayMuggers presents CARBON COPY (1981) starring George Segal and Denzel Washington!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday March 3rd, we’re watching CARBON COPY starring George Segal, Susan Saint James, Jack Warden, Dick Martin, Paul Winfield, and “introducing” Denzel Washington.

CARBON COPY is the story about a rich, white corporate executive (George Segal) who finds out that he has an illegitimate black son (Denzel Washington). This creates a variety of issues for him at home, at work, and in his social circles.

Although CARBON COPY was chosen by Sierra, I’m looking forward to watching it for the first time for several reasons:

  1. This is the theatrical film debut of one of the all-time great actors in Denzel Washington. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it will be interesting to see Denzel at the very beginning.
  2. George Segal starred in a movie with Rod Steiger called NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1968). My dad used to always tell me about this movie. I bought it on DVD and added it to my collection simply because my dad loved it. I even took it to their house one year for our annual Christmas celebration so we could watch it together. That doesn’t have anything to do with CARBON COPY, but it’s always given me a reason to appreciate Segal.
  3. George Segal reportedly turned down the lead role in the film ARTHUR (1981) in order to make CARBON COPY. I enjoyed ARTHUR when I watched it growing up. It will be interesting to see how the two films compare.
  4. Director Michael Shultz also directed movies like COOLEY HIGH (1975), CAR WASH (1976), GREASED LIGHTNING (1977), WHICH WAY IS UP (1977), and BUSTIN’ LOOSE (1981) leading up to CARBON COPY. It will be interesting to see how he handles the material.

So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch CARBON COPY! It’s on Amazon Prime.

The “CROUCHING TIGER” Oscars – a personal reflection on my all time favorite Oscar night!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

It would be hard to overstate just how excited I was about the film CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (2000). Having only discovered the work of Chow Yun-Fat a few years earlier, I had turned into a superfan and followed his every move. In the latter part of the 90’s, I dove into his entire filmography from Hong Kong. And that mostly meant buying movies online because there were not many options for purchasing his Hong Kong films, other than the classics THE KILLER (1989) and HARD-BOILED (1992), anywhere near my home in Arkansas. I soon discovered that Chow Yun-Fat was much more than just an action star as I would be watching serious dramas and crazy comedies along with his action fare. I’ll never forget my reaction when I first saw Chow play crazy comedy. It was the kitchen sink, cross-genre affair GOD OF GAMBLERS (1989), which starts with him playing the badass, unbeatable gambler of the title. He then falls down, hits his head and for a big part of the movie plays the simple minded goofball “Chocolate,” who will still gamble, but only for his favorite treats. Once I got used to such a jarring change within the same movie, I was able to appreciate just how good he is comedy. To this day, it’s one of my favorites. 

While I was busy trying to watch every film I could get my hands on during that time, Chow Yun-Fat was making the move to American films. I was at the movie theater on opening night for THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS (1998), THE CORRUPTOR (1999) and ANNA AND THE KING (1999). While I personally enjoyed each of these movies, Chow did not seem to be catching on with the American public with only ANNA AND THE KING breaking $100 Million worldwide. The other two would struggle to reach $20 Million. 

And then I started reading about Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh working on a film with director Ang Lee in China called CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I had really enjoyed Lee’s film of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1995), so I thought it might be interesting to see how he would handle a Chinese “wuxia” film. I would try to find as much information as I could, but I mainly just had to wait. As it premiered at Cannes and was being released around the world to enthusiastic reviews and big time box office, all I could do was read about it and bide my time. I then did something that I had never done before, and I have never done since. I found an e-mail address for Sony Pictures Classics and sent them an e-mail asking when CROUCHING TIGER was coming to Arkansas. To my great surprise, they responded that it would be in Little Rock on February 2nd, 2001. I could not be there on February 2nd, so I would have to wait until February 3rd to see the film, and I loved every second of it. And this time I wasn’t the only one as CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON was lighting the box office on fire in America on its way to a record $128 million, which was unheard of for a foreign language film. The world had a fever, and it seemed the only prescription was crouching tigers and hidden dragons!! 

Ten days after that beautiful night at the movies in Little Rock, the Oscars were announced, with CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. I was so excited. At that same time, I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly that put out on issue on February 23rd, 2001 with Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh on the cover. There were small pictures of people like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts around the edges, but Chow and Michelle were the centerpiece, and I was down for all of it! I watched the Oscar ceremony on March 25th, 2001 and saw my film take home 4 Oscars, those being Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Original Score. It was almost surreal watching Chow Yun-Fat being shown over and over during the telecast, always with a big smile and a genuine excitement for their film’s triumph. All of that joy I had found in searching out Chow’s work, and reading about him, and showing up on opening nights for his new movies… it all seemed be culminating that amazing night at the Oscars. Those were some of the most exciting “movie times” of my life, and I would take up residence on cloud 9 for weeks/months afterwards. 

After taking a break for a few years, I watched part of the Oscar telecast last year and really enjoyed the triumph of OPPENHEIMER. I’ll be back again tonight watching along with my wife and my friends at TSL. I have to admit I’m really looking forward to it. 

4 Shots From 4 Films – Hong Kong super-actor Lau Ching-Wan!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Today I want to share my love of the great Hong Kong actor Lau Ching-Wan! I’ve been a huge fan going back to the time when I bought the book, “Hollywood East: Hong Kong Movies and the People Who Make Them,” sometime around 2000 or so. I was already hooked on the films of Chow Yun-Fat, but it was in this book that I really discovered the special connection between director Johnnie To and Lau Ching-Wan. Of course I was immediately obsessed, and I soon would see some movies that I still consider my very favorites. At 61 years of age, Lau is still very much in demand and at the top of his game. In 2023, he won his third Hong Kong Film Award for the film DETECTIVE VS. SLEUTHS. In January of this year, the Hong Kong Film Critics Society named him their Best Actor for a record fifth time for his performance in the film PAPA (2024). He’s a truly incredible talent. Enjoy! 

C’EST LA VIE, MON CHERI (1993)

THE LONGEST NITE (1998)

THE WHITE STORM (2013)

DETECTIVE VS. SLEUTHS (2022)

Charles Bronson’s badass introduction in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)! Happy Weekend!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In a movie full of amazing actors, Charles Bronson’s introduction in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN is as badass as it gets. He exudes the power and charisma that would make him an international superstar a few years later. 

I hope your weekend is just as awesome!! Enjoy this amazing scene with Bronson, Yul Brynner, and Steve McQueen. 

Billy Bob Thornton in A SIMPLE PLAN (1998) – The great performances! 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Sam Raimi directed A SIMPLE PLAN, a movie about two brothers and a friend who find a crashed plane on a nature reserve that just happens to have a bag of cash containing $4.4 million. What starts out as the potential answer to all of their problems turns out the biggest problem they’ll ever have to deal with. 

Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton & Brent Briscoe play the guys who find the money and come up with a plan to keep it. As you can imagine, it all goes to hell, with one thing leading to another thing that leads to another thing, and none of it good. The performances in this film are uniformly excellent, with Thornton as the standout. He completely disappears into his character and received an Oscar nomination for his work. It’s a great film, but it’s not exactly a fun film as we watch these characters’ lives turn into a slowly unfolding bus wreck. I watched it recently for the first time since I saw it in the theaters in 1998. Although I highly recommend it, I’m probably good for another couple of decades.

This scene with Paxton and Thornton is pretty sad and a pretty strong indicator of why money ultimately can never bring true happiness. 

SHANE (The TV Series) – Episode 9: Poor Tom’s A-Cold (originally aired November 5th, 1966)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Episode 9 begins with Shane (David Carradine) riding his horse up to a family looking over some dead cattle. It seems their water source has become poisoned and the patriarch of the family, Tom Gary (Robert Duvall), blames Rufe Ryker (Bert Freed). He believes that Ryker is trying to force him off of his land. After Shane heads off to get the family some fresh water, Gary grabs his shotgun and heads to Sam Grafton’s bar looking for Ryker and some payback. When Shane finds out that Gary is going after Ryker, he and Tom Starett (Tom Tully) take off to try to stop a killing. They get there just in time to stop Gary. Ryker tells them that he had nothing to do with the water becoming poisoned, that it’s just a drought and the area is subject to getting alkaline in the water. That’s what actually killed his cattle. 

Three weeks later, Shane, Tom, Marian (Jill Ireland), and Joey (Christopher Shea) are sitting around the table talking about the Garys. Nobody has seen them for a few weeks, so Marian decides she’s going to go visit Ada Gary (Phyllis Love) to check on the family. Ada tells Marian that her husband has become completely obsessed with the idea that Ryker is trying to steal his land and that he spends every night outside with his shotgun. The next day, Ryker rides up and tells Shane that Tom Gary took a shot at him as he was riding his horse along the trail. Moments later, the Gary’s little girl runs up to the ranch and tells Shane and Tom that her pa has shot her mom. When they get to the Gary ranch, Ada is shot but she’s still alive. She tells them that her husband believes everyone, including her, is out to get him, and that he has headed off into the hills with guns and supplies. Shane and Ryker head off to get him, with Ryker wanting him dead…

Episode 9 starts off like a normal episode. It’s very normal for a sodbuster to be into it with Ryker at this point. But after watching the first eight episodes, we believe Ryker when he says he didn’t poison the water supply. We know that’s not his style. As the episode progresses, we begin to learn more about Tom Gary. We hear from his kids and his wife about how scary he is when he’s angry. His kids even tell Joey about their special hiding place outside of the house that they go to when their dad gets mad. We find out that they’ve spent many nights outside hiding from their dad because it’s not as scary as being in the house with him. This is when we realize the episode is going in a completely different direction. Tom Gary isn’t a victim of Ryker and his desire to own all of the land in the valley. The truth is that Tom Gary is abusive and clearly suffering from a mental illness, and the valley is not the place for a man with a violent mental illness. Can you imagine what living hell it must be for his wife and his kids? To be honest, I haven’t ever thought of what it must have been like for those suffering from mental illness, and for those who loved them, back in the old west. And this is from a guy whose wife works with the mentally ill week in and week out. Tom Gary has no help, and his family has no way out. Robert Duvall gives a good performance as Tom Gary, and we definitely see him as a man who has lost control of his faculties and is no longer capable of living in normal society. The writers even go so far as showing Shane as the person who wants to bring him in alive, and Ryker as the person who thinks it will be better for everyone, especially Ada Gary, if he’s dead and she doesn’t have to deal with him any longer. 

Overall, Episode 9 is not an easy episode to watch, and it doesn’t provide any easy answers, which is honestly how it should be. I wasn’t expecting the show to go in this direction, even if just for one episode. This episode makes you uncomfortable and makes you think of things you don’t really want to think of, and I’m guessing that’s probably the point. I give the show credit for that, but I’m also hoping episode 10 will get back to more familiar territory.